TPiR Recap - 10/10/2013 (2013 PCH Week Day 4)

[Hag]

I'm not saying all of George's intros are fail, but that singing one today was. It makes me miss the old days when they didn't have to have "funny" intros...the prizes spoke for themselves, and Johnny saying "It's a new car!" or even "It's a range." was enough.

[blozier2006]

Gas Money was utterly disappointing. $17,000 was just screaming suspicious and I disapprove of setting the car up to be a round number like that. When was the last time a car had three zeros in the price like that?

To be honest, I don't think I've EVER seen a car on the show with a price of exactly $XX,000 before today.

[Swingbatta0]

To be honest, I don't think I've EVER seen a car on the show with a price of exactly $XX,000 before today.

I've seen a couple of vintage automobiles from a few years ago that had a price of $XX,000, but in terms of NEW automobiles, I agree with you.

[dad90]

Nice show here.  Great to see Pick A Number and the Check Game here.  Now, let's break it down.

Cliff Hangers: The $20-$30-$40 strategy would've given me the win with 6 easy steps.  Glad he almost followed it.
Lucky 7: (Looks at the 9 as the last number) Take that, Mike Richards!  She chose the 6, and that was good enough!
Sadly, it all downhill from there.
Pick A Number: Honestly, it could've gone EITHER way.
Shopping Spree: And once again, this game was easy.  The motorcycle could NOT be 3-digits, neither could the Steam Shower.  I had the funny feeling that the Trainer would be the 3-digit one like the Treadmill on the last show on Most Expensive, and once again, I was right.
Gas Money: OK, Mike.  We need to talk.  When was the last time we saw a car with a price that has -000 as the last 3 digits of the car?  When???  I know for a fact that during the Barker era, there was NO car that had a -000 as the last 3 digits.  If Roger is here right now, he would've told us that for the first time in TPIR history, we have a car that is priced at $**,000!
Check Game: My gut feeling was to put in anywhere between $2500-$3500, and my guess is $2750, and I would've won.  $125 over really kills me, but it could've been worse.
Showcases: When Michael bid that, I thought he had it.  It just goes to show on how unpredictable Mike is with these prizes.

However, we better put on some battle gear next week, because next week is "Big Money Week".

Last time, we had Plinko for $500,000, Grand Game for $100,000, Pay The Rent for $100,000 (And why they didn't change this, I'll never know), 3 Strikes for a Tarantula Spider Spyder, and Punch A Bunch for $250,000.

Now, Let's Make A Deal is in for the ride.  I'm afraid to know what Mike Richards has in his sleeve.  And while he is at it, we need a new cameraman.  Adam, you need more camera classes!

[Mr. Weatherman]

And while he is at it, we need a new cameraman.  Adam, you need more camera classes!

Adam directs the cameramen, but he's not one himself. As far as I'm concerned, the cameramen know exactly what they are doing.

[thepriceis_J]

To be honest, I don't think I've EVER seen a car on the show with a price of exactly $XX,000 before today.

I've seen a couple of vintage automobiles from a few years ago that had a price of $XX,000, but in terms of NEW automobiles, I agree with you.

They've wheeled out even ending new cars very few times the past few years. It's so rare, I could probably count the instances on two hands, maybe one.

Adam has shown so much promise as a director, but he keeps whittling it away. Not only did he further his use of the zoom and pan in the multi-prize door games, but he used a high angle shot to reveal Gas Money. I can't say exactly what was wrong with that angle, but I just didn't like it. It seems he's doing things as director just because he can, and not whether or not what he's changing makes what it's replacing look better.

This show also showed much promise, especially after it went 2/2 with a great Lucky $even win, but it went down the drain very quickly. Pick-A-Number rears its ugly head. Shopping Spree is bungled. Gas Money was so easy it was really hard. And Check Game was just unfortunate.

I hope we don't see Plinko tomorrow. I really, really hope we don't see it. You'd think they'd shelve it, at least for a couple of weeks, after playing it six times in one day. I guess that makes too much sense.

[SilverFirePrime]

I hate hate hate hate it when the show starts out 2-2 and then goes 0-4 the rest of the way.  I'd almost prefer 0-6 at that point, as watching momentum get killed off is worse to me than having none at all.

[MSTieScott]

Scott, do you know if the show ever sets up longer games for a quick loss to try and save time/have a better game lineup?
For example, If Gas Money is setup to be (most likely) a quick loss instead of a full playing, will longer games be played that day to create a more pleasing set list of games?

I don't think that thought has ever crossed anybody's mind -- the one time you try to do that, you just know the contestant is going to defy the odds and play the game all the way through. (Though I know there have been a couple of times where we slightly overtimed a show with Bullseye since the game is usually won before having to go through the hidden bullseye routine.) In fact, this episode's lineup was slightly short, presumably to allow some time for the Publishers Clearing House extras.


I do remember there being a car that had a base price of $xx,000 sometime around season 34 or 35. But if I recall correctly, it was only used in That's Too Much and one of the games where the price doesn't matter (like Let 'Em Roll).

[GuyWithFace]

It's almost laughable that five years ago the show was boasting about how they have much better prizes than were previously offered and now all the prevailing prizes on the show are trips, electronics, designer materials, cars and cash.

I am reasonably certain that the show does believe they are much better prizes than were offered prior.

[Flerbert419]

When was the last time a car had three zeros in the price like that?

To be honest, I don't think I've EVER seen a car on the show with a price of exactly $XX,000 before today.

I've seen a couple of vintage automobiles from a few years ago that had a price of $XX,000, but in terms of NEW automobiles, I agree with you.

I do remember there being a car that had a base price of $xx,000 sometime around season 34 or 35.

Since there seems to be some discussion on this (and I remembered it happening much more recently), I went back and checked.  There were no occurances last season, but quite a few in Season 40.

Last automobile to end in 000 played in a game where price does matter: November 14, 2011 (That's Too Much!)
Last automobile to end in 000 played in a game where price doesn't matter: May 28, 2012 (Check Out)
Last vintage automobile to end in 000: February 17, 2012

[Kyle]

I am reasonably certain that the show does believe they are much better prizes than were offered prior.

What I neglected to mention (as I was typing in a hurry) was that they seemed to rag on the older prizes being too predictable and had been featured on the show too much, but, all they've done is subbed out an old set of prizes with their own. The same cycle of repetition continues. Ten years ago, you might see a Broyhill mattress appear on every show in a week, but now, instead of the mattress it's a collection of designer handbags featured every day of the week.

[CJBojangles]

I felt like today was a great show. I think one thing that helped this was the burning off of the $20,000 on the first pricing game so we didn't have to listen to Drew talk about it ad nauseum. The lineup was great too, even with the inclusion of Pick A Number.

Today was a prime example of why the $20,000 shouldn't count towards a player's score. Amalia had a much more difficult task facing Lucky $even (and pulled out a great win), but thanks to the bonus Eriq won on the easiest game on the show, he got to spin last and made it to the Showcase. Just didn't seem right to me.

Shopping Spree should've been won. Adam: PLEASE stop with this awful directing for multiprizers. Here's what I think each time you do this.

"Ooh, Shopping Spree. Look at all those priz... Wait, what were those prizes on the right? Why is George reading so slowly? This panning and stopping is kinda making me dizzy."

It just drags out what should be a "pop" of excitement when the doors open. It should be 'Look at all the prizes!' Plus, George reading them off quickly instead of "Prize, pan, prize, pan, prize" is much more exciting, not to mention the way you're doing it eats up more precious showtime.

It looks as if no one else caught this, but there was an explosion of glass all over the turntable as Check Game came around today, and the border of the turntable shattered one of the light bulbs on the big green "doorframe". I'm surprised that took that long to happen. Oh, and yay Check Game! An unfortunate loss.

... Pay The Rent for $100,000 (And why they didn't change this, I'll never know)

Because $100,000 is already a ton of money, and they actually wanted it won.

[MannyCav]

Last automobile to end in 000 played in a game where price does matter: November 14, 2011 (That's Too Much!)

Well, yeah, the price does technically matter, but you're not actually trying to guess that price. You're just trying to figure out what two fake prices the price, whatever it may be, falls between, jumping on the first one. You're actually getting your fingers dirty in Gas Money trying to pick out what specifically is or isn't the car price. It's not quite the same thing.

[Mr. Weatherman]

It looks as if no one else caught this, but there was an explosion of glass all over the turntable as Check Game came around today, and the border of the turntable shattered one of the light bulbs on the big green "doorframe". I'm surprised that took that long to happen.

Wow, good eye!

[Flerbert419]

You're actually getting your fingers dirty in Gas Money trying to pick out what specifically is or isn't the car price. It's not quite the same thing [as TTM].

Agreed that it's not quite the same thing, but the distinctions end up getting pretty blurry when you go down that path of not just leaving it games you need to know the price and games you don't.

Is figuring out the tens digit in Switcheroo the same thing?  Is determining if the price is More or Less than one number the same thing?